Roughing in frame and access panel to tub/shower valvfs

ABSTRACT

THE DISCLOSURE IS TO TWO PARTS, A ROUGHING IN FRAME BEING FIRST USED BY THE PLUMBER TO EXTEND IN FRONT OF THE FORWARD EDGE FACES OF BATHROOM STUDS, TO WHICH THE FRAME IS AFFIXED, THE FRAME MEMBES BEING OF APPROXIMATELY TILE WALL WIDTH, AND HOT, SHOWER AND COLD WATER VALVE STEMS AND MIXED WATER CONDUIT EXTENDING FORWARDLY THROUGH THE BRACING WITHIN THE REAR PART OF THE FRAME. THEN A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR PANEL PLATE OF DIMENSION TO OVEREXTEND THE ROUGHING IN FRAME (AND PART OF THE TILE THEREAROUND) IS DISPOSED WITH A RECTANGULAR FRAME EXTENDING INWARDLY THROUGH HOLES IN THE PANEL PLATE, WARD PART OF THE ROUGHING IN FRAME. THE VALVE STEMS AND CONDUIT EXTEND FORWARDLY THROUGH HOLES IN THE PANEL PLATE, AND WHEN THE RESPECTIVE VALVES AND THE MIXED WATER SPOUT ARE INSTALLED, THE PANEL PLATE MATCHES WITH THE TILE IN FINISH WHILE AT THE SAME TIME BEING REMOVABLE IN EMERGENCY AS TO PERMIT ACCESS TO THE MIXING VALVE FROM WHICH STEMS AND CONDUIT EXTEND FORWARDLY.

Oct. 5, 1971 v. ALLGQOD 3,609,774

ROUGHING IN FRAME AND ACCESS PANEL TO TUB/SHOWER VALVES Filed April 30, 1969 IN V/iN'l R LEW/S 1 ALLGOOD BY fii; 5' W United States Patent 6 3,609,774 ROUGHING IN FRAME AND ACCESS PANEL T TUB/ SHOWER VALVES Lewis V. Allgood, Rte. 2, Box 76AA, Willis, Tex. 77378 Filed Apr. 30, 1969, Ser. No. 820,376 Int. Cl. F161 00 US. Cl. 4191 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure is to two parts, a roughing in frame being first used by the plumber to extend in front of the forward edge faces of bathroom studs, to which the frame is afiixed, the frame members being of approximately tile wall width, and hot, shower and cold water valve stems and mixed water conduit extending forwardly through the bracing within the rear part of the frame. Then a substantially rectangular panel plate of dimension to overextend the roughing in frame (and part of the tile therearound) is disposed with a rectangular frame extending inwardly therefrom in fit snugly within the forward part of the roughing in frame. The valve stems and conduit extend forwardly through holes in the panel plate, and when the respective valves and the mixed water spout are installed, the panel plate matches with the tile in finish while at the same time being removable in emergency, as to permit access to the mixing valve from which stems and conduit extend forwardly.

The invention relates to a roughing in frame about which the bathroom tile wall may be installed, the installation of this frame on the forward edge faces of bathroom studs permitting the hot water, shower, and cold water valve stems to extend through guide bracing therein. Then an access panel overextends the roughing in frame and tile therearound, and provides a substantially rectangular frame to extend within the roughing in frame. Handles and spout, installed on stems and conduit outwardly of their holes through the panel plate, complete the assembly. The panel plate matches the tile.

As a primary object the invention provides a roughing in member defining an area with a tile wall therearound, and through which hot water, shower, cold water stems and mixed water conduit extend; also there is provided an access panel through which stems and conduit extend to have respective handles and spot installed thereon to assemble the access panel against the tile as a rectangular frame on the panel inner face fits snugly within the roughing in frame.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide a roughing in frame and access panel of this class in which the roughing in panel first acts to define an area around valve stems and conduit about which tile may be installed, with the stems and conduit then extending through an access panel matching tile and overextending tile around roughing in frame when assembled, as by installing handles on valve stems and spout on conduit.

It is still another and important object of this invention to provide a roughing in frame and access panel of this class which serves to eliminate an area of tile otherwise employed in each bathroom, the access panel providing a tile matching plate behind valve stem handles and spout, while the access panel is removable to permit access, through roughing in frame, as to the mixing valve from which the valve stems and mixed water conduit extend.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a roughing in frame and access panel of this class, with the guide bracing within the rear portion of the roughing in frame being expendable after the tile wall has been installed around the roughing in frame.

Other and further objects will be apparent when the specification herein is considered in connection with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric development view of the two parts of the invention and of the apparatus associated therewith;

FIG. 2 is an elevational View, part in section, taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view, part in section, taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like reference numerals are applied to like elements in the various views, a roughing in frame 10 is shown in FIG. 1 comprising left and right risers 11a, 11b, and upper and lower runners 12a, 12b joined together to form a rectangular frame element 14 with connection tabs 15a, 15b extending centrally from the outer, rear surface portions of the risers 11a, 11b. The distance from the outer surface of riser 11a to the outer surface of riser 11b is indicated in FIG. 1 as being substantially equal to the distance between opposed inner faces 13c, 13d of the bathroom studs 13a, 13b. Also, it is indicated in FIG. 1 that the rear face of the tabs 15a, 15b fall in the plane of the rear edges of the risers 11a, 11b, and runners 12a, 12b, thus to extend over the forward edge faces 13e, 13 of the aforesaid studs 13a, 13b. The connectors or connection tabs 15a, 15b may have narrow, preformed slots 13g, 13h whereby nails 16 may be passed through the slots 13g, 13h and driven into the studs 13a, 13b to position the frame 10 with relation thereto.

The roughing in frame 10 is braced within the risers 11a, 11b and the runners 12a, 12b, but only across the rear portions of the risers and runners. Thus the frame element 14 includes brace members that are no more than half the width of the aforesaid risers and runners 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b. These brace members in form of horizontally extending members 17a, 17b with vertically extending member 18a thereinbetween, surround the hot water valve stem 19a; and correspondingly, on opposite side of the frame 10, horizontally extending members 17c, 17d, with vertically extending member 18b surround the cold water valve stem 190. Also, diagonally extending members 20a, 20b extend from the under side of the top runner 12a to the tops of the respective vertically extending members 18a, 18b. Also the bracing includes vertically extending members 18c, 18d upstand above the lower runner 12b centrally thereof and are connected across the top, and above the mixed water delivery conduit 21, by horizontally extending member 17e, with a lower horizontally extending member 17 below the conduit 21 also extending between the uprights 18c, 18d.

Furthermore, as an additional brace, an upright 182 may be provided to upstand from substantially the midpoint of the upper surface of the lower runner 12b to the under side of the lower horizontally extending member 17 The bracing is also shown as including a diagonally extending member 20c between the bottom of the upright member 18a and the top of the upright member 180. Also, and corresponding, the bracing is shown as including a diagonally extending member 20d between the bottom of the upright member 18b and the top of the upright member 18d. Thus the valve stem 19b which extends from the mixing valve, not shown, to select the direction of mixed water to shower or tub, is shown widely surrounded by brace members 20a, 18a, 20c, 17c, 20d, 18b and 20b.

Between the tabs 15a, 15b in FIG. 1, there is shown in dotted lines a cross-member 22 which would pass through a slot therefor in each of riser 11a, diagonally extending member 200, diagonally extending member 20a and in riser 11b, and thus the respective tabs 15a and 155 would comprise the left and right ends of such member 22, as employed when it could be considered desirable strongly to brace the roughing in frame 10, as an optional manner of construction.

When the roughing in frame 10 is installed about the stems 19a, 19b, 19c and the conduit 21, as mounted on the bathroom studs 13a, 13b as shown in FIG. 1, the bathroom may then be finished, including around the frame 10, with the tile wall 25 being installed outwardly of the studs, not shown in FIG. 2. As indicated, the tile wall 25 comprises inward lath or stud contacting material 23, with the tile 24 then being installed upon the lath 23 and with the tile blocks being mortar set together, also mortar 26 is indicated in FIG. 2 as disposed just above the runner 12a and under the lath 23 and tile 24. The roughing in frame 10 thus serves to block out an area over which tile is not to be employed, whereas the lath 23 and tile 24 may readily be installed around the outer elements (risers and runners) of the frame 10, which can be kept in position thereby. Then it follows that the access panel 30 may be installed to extend within the roughing in frame 10, as will be hereinbelow described. Finally the hot water, shower and cold water valve stem handles may be installed outwardly of the panel plate 27, and the panel plate, with outside finish to match the tile, is fixedly positioned as part of the finished bathroom.

The access panel 30 comprises the access plate 27, of substantially rectangular shape and of a finished appearance to match the tile, at least as to outer surface. On the back side of the panel plate 27 a rectangular flange element 28 is provided of depth or width not greater than about half the depth or width of the roughing in frame members 11a, 12a, 11b, 125 thus to fit within these members outboard of its hereinabove described bracing and guide members. As the access panel 30 is thus fitted into the roughing in frame 14, the valve stems 19a, 19b, 19c extend through horizontally aligned holes 29a, 29b, 29c therein, while the mixed water conduit 21 extends through a lower hole 31 therein spaced below the central valve stem hole 2%. Prior to installing the access panel 30 over valve stems and conduit, nuts 35 have been threaded upon the outer ends of these elements with nut contact faces outwardly, and thus these nuts 35 serve as prepositioned stops against which the access panel 30 bears while the respective handes 32a, 32b and 32c are installed on the outer ends of the respective hot water, shower and cold water valve stems 19a, 19b and 19c. Also, the mixed water delivery spout 33 is installed upon the outer end of the conduit 21 to bear against the outer face of the panel plate 27, as the nut 35 bears on the inner side of the plate 27, thus to efiect firm anchorage. Noticeably adapter rings 34a, 34b and 340 are assembled to bear against the outer face of the panel plate 27 as the handles 32a, 32b and 320 are connected on to complete the final assembly.

It should be noticeable that the bracing within the rear portion of the roughing in frame 10 are designed as strength members to serve to hold the frame 10 in shape and square at the corners until the tile wall 25 has been built in around it, at which time the tile wall itself should be more than ample to hold the roughing in frame members as disposed. In this case, these bracing members should have no further use, as they will only be in the way in case the access panel 27 may be taken ofi? to afford access to the mixing valve, not shown, but to the rear of the position of the roughing in frame. Thus, all of these bracing members a, 17a, 17b, 18a, 20c, 18c, 17e, 173, 18e, 18f, 18d, 20d, 17d, 17e 18b and 20b may be torn out after the tile wall has been installed. Also, the roughing in frame 14 may be dispensed with after the tile wall has been installed, since it will then be no longer needed, except to fill the space between tile wall and the flange 28 of the access panel 30. However, since the panel plate 27 is of size to overextend the tile 24 all around, when the handles 32a, 32b and 320 and the spout 33 are installed, the panel plate 27, as urged by the assembly of handles and spout to bear upon the tile that it overextends, will distribute itself substantially centrally in substantially equal overlap of the tile. However, the roughing in frame need not be removed; also the bracing need not be removed, at least not until the first time it may be necessary to have access, by way of the access panel 30, to get at the mixing valve, not shown, and to the rear.

The invention also includes roughing in frames and access panels for shower stalls where no bath tub may be involved. In such a case one or two stems may extend from an inner space between studs, and it is only necessary to provide bracing of strength to support the roughing in frame in form while the tile wall is being filled in around it, while the guiding bracing only has to clear the one or two valve stems that extend forwardly for outside manipulation. Exemplary of a single valve stem to be gnidably braced through the roughing in frame and to extend through a single hole in the panel plate, would be a shower valve stem that has a substantially long handle outwardly of the panel plate and in being turned through an arc, operates valving at the mixing valve to turn on hot water, cold water, to regulate mixture how and to effect cut off. Optionally, if two valve stems extend forwardly from mixing valve, one will be to turn on and regulate the hot water and one to turn on and regulate the cold water from exteriorally of the access panel. Noticeably, these valve stems, aforesaid, place no limitations as to symmetery of disposition of holes in the panel plate.

Also, in tub/shower combinations, there is no limitation as to valve stem and conduit arrangement as may be gathered from the drawings. Nor will it be necessary, in cases, to have three valve stems extended to the access panel. Rather one valve stem may be actuated from forward of access panel to turn on the shower and mix water from hot and cold sources back at the mixing valve. In other cases, two valve stems may be extended forwardly of the access panel, one to select shower use, and one to regulate hot and cold mixture back at the mixing valve. Also, in such cases, the spout for water into tub may not have to be disposed centrally through the lower part of the panel plate but other relative disposition may be desired.

The invention in an aspect includes method which may be developed with prosecution, since an essential member, necessary at outset, may later be expended in part, or optionally, entirely removed.

Also, the structures disclosed are not to place limitationsupon the disclosure, since roughing in frames may be of different construction, and also access panels may be differently formed. The claims as drafted introduce the combination of a roughing in frame and an access panel, and novelty may be established from ensuing procedures.

I claim:

1. The combination of a roughing in frame and access panel for the water control means of a bath shower combination, wherein said roughing in frame comprising spaced apart risers and runners forming a rectangular frame element, the depth of said frame element being substantially equal to the thickness of the tile wall within which said frame element is received and the width of said frame element being substantially equal to the spacing between adjacent studs which support said wall, connector means including opposed connector tabs formed on the side of said frame elment which is juxtaposed said studs each of said tabs being formed to extend outwardly in a perpendicular manner from a location intermediate the ends of said risers, and wherein said access panel comprising a substantially rectangular panel plate having an inwardly directed continuous flange member dimensioned to snugly fit within said frame element, said flange member being formed inwardly of the outer periphery of panel plate, whereby a uniform overhang is formed on said plate extending around said flange member, aperture means being formed in said access panel for penetration of said water control means, said water control means including fitting means mounted thereon which engage and firmly secure said access panel to said roughing in frame, and wherein guide and brace means are formed within and integral with said frame element, said guide and brace means being formed in that portion of said frame element which juxtaposed said studs and being of such a thickness so as not to interfere with the flange member formed on said access panel when said flange member is received within said frame element, and said guide and brace means guidably receiving said water control means.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which said water control means includes a hot water valve stem, a shower valve stem and a cold water valve stem, and a conduit for a bath spout arranged below said stems and in which the vertical distance between upper and lower runner is some bit greater than the distance between said stems and said conduit, and in which said fitting means comprises handle means for the respective hot water valve stem, shower valve stem and cold water valve stem and a bath water spout.

3. Combination as claimed in claim 2 in which said guide and brace means is formed with small rectangular frames which surround the hot water valve stem, the cold water valve stem, and the bath spout conduit.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 2 in which said guide and brace means includes a substantially octagonal frame which surrounds the shower valve stem.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which 6 said connector means includes a horizontally extending member between said tabs and passing through those portions of said risers juxtaposed said studs and said guide and brace means includes two diagonally extending elements.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 1 in which said connector tabs have horizontally extending slots therein, whereby nails may be passed through said slots and driven into through the outer edge faces of adjacent bathroom studs, and thereinto with nail heads to lodge against said tabs thus to aflix said tabs to said studs with outermost extent of said roughing in frame substantially flush with outer surface of said tile wall, as installed outwardly of said bathroom studs outer surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,414,792 5/1922 Seither 4-19l 1,630,906 5/1927 Ricken 49465 1,946,207 2/1934 Haire 137359 2,231,276 2/1941 McGarry 137-359 2,295,888 9/ 1942 Bucknell et al. 4-1 2,314,950 3/1943 Pope 4191 2,460,005 1/1949 Gruen 4191 2,661,677 12/1953 Lingelbach 248-57 2,729,414 1/1956 Clank 24857 2,793,721 5/1957 Sterud 49465 3,491,486 1/1970 Caruth 49463 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner E. J. EARLS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

